I have the main unit.
type computer
country Finland
year 1979
os JBUG
cpu Motorola MC6800
speed 1 MHz
ram 128 x 8-bit
rom 1024 x 8-bit
graphic 6 hexadesimal LCD
colors none
sound none
ports 2 x Canon D25S serial, DIN paraller
The Itumic Salkkumikro M6800 — Finland’s Briefcase Computer
The Itumic Salkkumikro M6800 is one of the most historically significant and unusual items in the Computer Museum Ata collection — an early Finnish portable computer using the Motorola 6800 processor, whose very name reveals its origin: ”salkkumikro” means ”briefcase micro” in Finnish, describing a portable computer in a briefcase form factor. Produced by the Finnish company Itumic in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the Salkkumikro represents Finland’s early participation in personal computing — predating the Nokia MikroMikko and demonstrating that Finnish engineers were developing computer products independently and innovatively from the very beginning of the microcomputer era.
The Motorola 6800 Architecture
The Motorola 6800 processor was one of the foundational microprocessors of the personal computing era — introduced in 1974, it was the direct ancestor of the Motorola 6809 (used in Dragon and TRS-80 CoCo computers) and an important influence on the MOS Technology 6502 (used in the Apple II, Commodore 64, and BBC Micro). A Finnish computer using the 6800 in the late 1970s reflects the international reach of Motorola’s processor architecture and the creativity of Finnish engineers who were building personal computing solutions before the mass market had fully defined what a personal computer should be.
Finnish Computing Pioneering
The Salkkumikro M6800 predates both Nokia’s MikroMikko (1981) and the IBM PC (1981) — placing it in the era when personal computers were built by enthusiasts, engineers, and small companies experimenting with what microprocessors could do. Finland’s computing history is often told through Nokia and MikroMikko, but machines like the Itumic Salkkumikro reveal that Finnish computer development was broader and earlier than the well-known brands suggest. This briefcase computer is a rare and historically precious artefact of Finland’s computing heritage.